An Easy Infographic Tool (Yep, It's Really Easy)

Every so often, I come across a resource and think, “Wow. Bet a lot of writers would love this!” And so today, I bring you Easel.ly, a website that can help you create fun and informative graphics fast.

For free.

Yep, free. (You can sign up for all the bells and whistles and get the pro version, but if you’re a cheap writer like me, the free version will do quite nicely.)

And because I believe in trying something before I pass it along to writer friends, I made my own infographic on…oh, this is so exciting! Bet you’ll never guess!

Yep, writing. (Surprise!)

I’m a big fan of anything that has templates where you can just plug in what you need, so right off the old template, I was ready to see what Easel.ly could do. And though the free version is limited, you can still get creative after you spend some time learning the ins and outs. Believe me, I’m not a big techno type—and I’ll admit that it took me an inordinate amount of tries to figure out that you need to double click to make changes or grab graphics and such—but still, once I grasped the system, it was easy-peasy.

If you read all about Easel.ly, you’ll see that the creators promote it as a great tool for educators and students, and for business owners, too, because infographics can get across a difficult concept quickly. But I can see plenty of applications for writers, too.

An infographic can add a spark to a blog post. Or how about including a graphic in your non-fiction magazine article? If you’re writing for children, you can make your own teacher resources to go along with your books. I’ll bet you can think of uses I haven’t considered yet.

As one who makes her living writing, I don’t always like that saying about a picture being worth a thousand words, but there’s truth to the old adage. Sometimes, a picture is exactly what you need to share a message. And Easel.ly makes that process pretty easy.

~Cathy C. Hall